TY - JOUR
T1 - Facile synthesis of pH-responsive gadolinium(III)-doped carbon nanodots with red fluorescence and magnetic resonance properties for dual-readout logic gate operations
AU - Fang, Yaning
AU - Zhou, Lefei
AU - Zhao, Junkai
AU - Zhang, Yali
AU - Yang, Mo
AU - Yi, Changqing
N1 - Funding Information:
The financial support from Guangdong Natural Science Foundation ( S2017A030313076 ) and Shenzhen Basic Research Program (No. JCYJ20170307140752183 ) is gratefully acknowledged.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2020/9/30
Y1 - 2020/9/30
N2 - The great challenge still exists in the synthesis of red-emissive carbon nanodots (C-dots) and the development of molecular logic devices with better operation stability for biological applications. In this study, gadolinium (III)-doped C-dots are synthesized by a new solvothermal approach using citric acid, urea and GdCl3 as precursors. The as-prepared Gd3+-doped C-dots exhibit bright red fluorescence (FL) centered at 620 nm in an excitation wavelength-independent manner, and a high T1 relaxivity (∼16.0 mM−1 s−1). More excitingly, the Gd3+-doped C-dots exhibit a pH-dependent response in not only FL behaviour but also magnetic resonance (MR) signal. When triggered by H+, OH−, or Cu2+, the Gd3+-doped C-dots can behave as a switch for FL emission and MR signal, leading to dual-readout and multi-addressable logic systems. Therefore, by employing the Gd3+-doped C-dots as logic gate with varying the chemical inputs, FL/MR dual-readout logic operations including IMP and NOR have been successfully demonstrated not only in all-aqueous media but also within the living HeLa cells. Together with the good biocompatibility and cell-permeability, the Gd3+-doped C-dots hold great potentials for real-time monitoring pH changes both in solution and biological cells, and even future evaluating cellular states via in-cell biocomputation.
AB - The great challenge still exists in the synthesis of red-emissive carbon nanodots (C-dots) and the development of molecular logic devices with better operation stability for biological applications. In this study, gadolinium (III)-doped C-dots are synthesized by a new solvothermal approach using citric acid, urea and GdCl3 as precursors. The as-prepared Gd3+-doped C-dots exhibit bright red fluorescence (FL) centered at 620 nm in an excitation wavelength-independent manner, and a high T1 relaxivity (∼16.0 mM−1 s−1). More excitingly, the Gd3+-doped C-dots exhibit a pH-dependent response in not only FL behaviour but also magnetic resonance (MR) signal. When triggered by H+, OH−, or Cu2+, the Gd3+-doped C-dots can behave as a switch for FL emission and MR signal, leading to dual-readout and multi-addressable logic systems. Therefore, by employing the Gd3+-doped C-dots as logic gate with varying the chemical inputs, FL/MR dual-readout logic operations including IMP and NOR have been successfully demonstrated not only in all-aqueous media but also within the living HeLa cells. Together with the good biocompatibility and cell-permeability, the Gd3+-doped C-dots hold great potentials for real-time monitoring pH changes both in solution and biological cells, and even future evaluating cellular states via in-cell biocomputation.
KW - Intracellular imaging
KW - Logic gates
KW - pH sensing
KW - Red fluorescence
KW - T-weighted image
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85085504505&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.carbon.2020.05.060
DO - 10.1016/j.carbon.2020.05.060
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85085504505
VL - 166
SP - 265
EP - 272
JO - Carbon
JF - Carbon
SN - 0008-6223
ER -